Brookings Institution

I had the pleasure of working with Justin van Fleet at the Brookings Institution Center for Universal Education on Lenovo's response to the report “A Global Education Challenge: Harnessing Corporate Philanthropy to Educate the World's Poor." This report is an excellent compilation of corporate philanthropy in education, as well as expert analysis on what firms can do to improve efficiency in their partnership with education.  I was lucky to meet Justin in person at the United Nations for the most recent ECOSOC meeting - he is one of the good guys!  

Continue reading “Brookings Institution on Corporate Philanthropy in Education”

Lenovo Education Taxonomy

There isn't a quick and easy way to achieve effective education reform, especially in the cloud era.  In order to help our clients think about all aspects of technology in education, we've created the Taxonomy of Academic Technology above.  This guide offers a holistic view of the education technology landscape from public policy to PD to cyber-bullying to district reporting.  Underlying each item are content, best practices and pre-assessment tools. Many firms claim to have the right answers about reform.  Our take is different:  we don't want to provide rote, cookie-cutter solutions.  We want schools to ask themselves the right questions.  Communities and experts expect schools to provide critical thinking, innovation and inquiry-based learning.  We believe the same should apply to technology partners. What are the best tools you've used to plan, deploy and assess edtech programs?

Continue reading “Taxonomy of Academic Technology”

Brian Carter's Lenovo Sensei

Over at What's Your Idea of Fun, Brian Carter of bods-mods.com has modded an A700 to become an "interactive teaching aid" which includes a large touchscreen all-in-one IdeaCentre and a projector.  This is a very interesting concept.  If you agree, you can vote for Brian's design here.  Software like DyKnow and Wimba/Elluminate are effectively now granting all of the advantages of interactive whiteboards in software - you really only need a projector and a white wall to share slides & content, conduct quizzing/polling, simulation and pacing.  I'm very impressed that one of the modders addressed education - Great Job Brian!

Continue reading “Lenovo Sensei”

The 2010 EDUCAUSE conference is just around the corner.  Lenovo interviewed Diana Oblinger, President & CEO of EDUCAUSE, to discuss this year's conference and the current state of IT in higher education.  Jason Mooneyham, Executive Director of Public Sector, also weighs in on Lenovo's presence in higher education and what attendees should expect to see at this year's conference.  Please see links to MP3 audio recordings of the interviews below. Lenovo Podcast with Diana Oblinger.mp3 Lenovo podcast with Jason Mooneyham.mp3 (*Special thanks to the team at MMI for recording the interviews) I look forward to seeing everyone in Anaheim!

Continue reading “Oblinger and Mooneyham on Educause 2010”

On October 29th, the Wireless EdTech Conference will convene in Washington, D.C. to explore the impact of wireless communications will have on the policy and process of education.  The conference will be co-hosted by Harvard GSE professor (and Lenovo favorite) Chris Dede, as well as Qualcomm’s Chairman and CEO, Dr. Paul E. Jacobs. More than 300 leaders in education, technology and policy from government organizations, non-profits and the private sector will convene at the conference. All senior-level visionaries who are or would like to become actively involved in the future of wireless education are invited to attend. One of the organizers of Wireless EdTech, Marie Bjerede, has been a driving force in education reform in the US.  As Vice President of Wireless Education Technologies at Qualcomm, she has been involved with a myriad of projects from rural North Carolina to sunny San Diego and beyond.  I’ve asked her to answer some quick questions about the conference.

Continue reading “Wireless Technologies and Education Reform”